In recent years, a drive to increase processing speed in the arena of computing has led to increased interest in hardware accelerators. Hardware accelerators include units of hardware configured to perform specific computing functionality. The hardware units are linked together in a manner that allows a desired set of calculations to be performed on a data set. In many instances, the hardware units are linked in a manner that allows computationally intensive processing to be performed on multiple sets of data in parallel. The resulting concurrency can yield impressive processing speed that parallels and, in some instances, surpasses the processing speed achievable using general purpose processors that execute software instructions.
The figures are not to scale. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawing(s) and accompanying written description to refer to the same or like parts.